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Tuesday, August 28, 2007

This 'n That Tuesday!

Not that every Tuesday will be a this 'n' that day... just this time around, since there's a few things here and there I've been meaning to blog about.

Hulk: Grey

I checked out the TPB of this book from the library, since I've run out of Superman collections and other old-school comics TPBs that are available. I don't know if any of you have read it, but it's an enjoyable read, for the most part. Not as good as any of Peter David's Hulk stories, mind you (IMHO), but it was enjoyable.

So long as you don't worry about continuity, anyway.

The main story that's being told (aside from the framework of Banner talking to Doc Samson about it) is supposed to take place right after Bruce got bombarded by gamma rays, and turns into the Hulk for the first time. Except that we already saw what happened right after that, in Incredible Hulk #1. So this becomes revisionist history here, as the grey Hulk is portrayed more like the later green Hulk (especially circa early 1970s), at least personality-wise.

One of the biggest problems I had with the story, actually, was where the Hulk is holding a bunny, and pets it to death by accident. Hello??? You mean to tell me that the Hulk, strongest one there is, is capable of controlling his strength enough to pick up a bunny (as if a bunny is going to just let some seven-foot-tall grey being pick it up)... but when he's petting it with one finger he forgets his own strength, and crushes its widdle head?

I'm sorry, I have to call shenanigans on that.

Spider-Man: The Other

I read this TPB after Hulk: Grey, again courtesy of the local library. Peter David did, indeed, write part of this, but to be honest, I can barely tell which parts he wrote compared to the rest. Maybe that's a tribute to him, that he was able to seamlessly integrate his chapters with the other creators' chapters.

So, basically, in this story, some dude with a mad-on for Spidey comes back from the dead (a dude I've never heard of before, by the way), because he wants to kill Spidey. Also, Spidey (who's an Avenger by this point, living in Stark Towers, Aunt May knows he's Spider-Man, and Mary Jane asks Captain America for advice and stuff) apparently has some kind of cancer that was caused by the original irradiated spider-bite... although I don't believe it's ever really specified if it's a cancer or what... just that his malady is radiation-based.

Well, as weakened as Pete is, it doesn't take much for Morden (or whatever his name is) to beat the living crap out of Spidey, and...

Oh, hell, I may as well just come out and say it... this whole thing felt to me like someone got "Death of Superman" envy 15-20 years after the fact, and wanted to do the Death and Rebirth of Spider-Man, and then had to figure out how to do it. Or maybe they read somewhere about spiders supposedly being able to shed their skin once and be reborn in a way (I haven't looked this up to confirm if it's true or just some made up stuff), and figured, "Why don't we have Spider-Man do this, too?" There's also a lot of overthinking about what other kind of powers Spider-Man "should" have, if he's got all the powers of a spider.

It's all pretty convoluted stuff, and I'm sure the kids these days thought the whole thing was "kewl" (or whatever they say these days). I'm sure the stingers (that shoot out of his arms, right where the web-shooters are) were also thought to be extremely cool.

But you know what? That's not my Spider-Man. Thank goodness I can still read about adventures of my Spidey whenever I want, thanks to TPBs and the like.

Foster Parenting

If you don't read the blog Jessi and I write, "Building our Family," then you don't know that we're down to one child now, the three-year-old that we're going to be able to adopt (to be honest, though, I have no idea what the target date is for the adoption... I was originally told January, but Jessi's been saying December for a few weeks, and suddenly she's saying maybe November; I haven't a clue where she's getting this).

Anyway, the one-year-old is now with a family that's got much more parenting experience (even if the husband, who's in the army, is currently deployed overseas), and there's older kids who will be thrilled to play with him. Hopefully, this will indeed be the best thing for him.

Once we feel we've got a better handle on things with the three-year-old (and you know, I'll be glad when we adopt him so I can just write his name... we've been calling him "T3" on the parenting blog), then we can start getting him ready for the idea of being a big brother, and then we can look into finding him a little brother or little sister.

Secrets of Isis

Haven't watched any other episodes after the first one yet! Got the second Laugh-In DVD from the library, so need to watch that first!

Dollar Store DVDs

Halloween is nearing, and some items for that holiday are starting to appear at the Dollar Stores, but none of the cool stuff I told you about last year.

But there are some new DVDs popping up that I thought I'd let you know about...

Clutch Cargo (one of those bizarrely animated shows of the 1960s) is on one of the DVDs I picked up this past weekend, but the one I have is labeled "Vol. 5" -- and I've never seen volumes 1-4!

The second one I got was Tobor, the 8th Man & Friends Vol. 1. Tobor is one of the old Japanese black-and-white animated cartoons that got limited distribution in the States, from what I can tell. I have no idea what else is on it other than Tobor at this point!

Both these DVDs were manufactured by a company called EastWest DVD, and I'll be checking out their website next!

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About This Geek

I have been a Navy journalist, word processor, graphic designer, medical assisting student, cook, and truck driver, and am currently an eBay seller as well as an employee at a big retail store. I have been and always will be into comics, sf, tv, cartoons, monsters, oldies rock, and lots of other stuff.
If your blog has a link to this blog, let me know and I'll add you to my linklist!
You can contact me at waffyjon@comcast.net